so the tension that has being prevalent in recent months has been intense. this says many observers all already saying is a result of a political disclose that has been really, really bad in recent months. and indeed for a number of years now. of these acts of violence. so this particular act of violence is seen by some as a consequence of the nature of the political debates or the lack of any formal political debate within the united states of the and get between the opposing sides . the anger between the supporters of various candidates has been very prevalent within this country, and this is seen by many as a direct consequence of the toxic nature of the political discourse within the united states. we have heard for reactions from various politicians saying that they hope that this brings the country together. that having seen what the consequence is of a truck sick, political nature,

americans may now be more willing to get together with others, even though they be political opponents. so even though they may not agree with them, that is in the immediate wake of the shooting which associated press is now reporting is being investigated as an attempted assassination of the pool of my president by honda. thank you. it's 00, g m t and you're watching all continuing coverage of the shooting out. the trump rally in the us state of pennsylvania to take the going. trump was speaking about migration in the town of buffalo, in gunshot swell, he dropped to the stage flow before the secret service offices picked him up and rushed him to a car. blood could be seen on one side of his face and an ear from raised his fist

before getting inside the vehicle was on hands and it was just outside the area where the valley was taking place when he joins us now. live from documented pennsylvania. john, bring us up to speed. the very latest. well, we're seeing reports that 2 people have been killed including the gunman. and what we know beyond that is really still fairly sketchy. the secret service is investigating this incident, but the people we talked to who came out here said that they saw the blood on the presidents here. actually before he went down, which suggested possibly he was struck by the gunman before he went down. in other words, you didn't get that blood after going behind the podium, but he has been checked out and is at a local hospital and is reportedly doing fine. that's according to a statement from the trump campaign. and the people here we talked to say they need

all happened very quickly, but immediately you could see if you were watching that the secret service a completely covered him and got him into a vehicle where he pumped his fist on the way. and the secret service response was so fast, they usually have snipers at these events and it was within seconds. you could hear in the gun fire, which we just played at how quick that response was. what we don't know is a, a more information about the other people who were heard. we did talk to a woman who said that she spoke to a, the spoke to a man who had blood on his shirt. he said he was fine, but the person who was helping probably was not. we spoke to a number of eye witnesses. here's what one had to say. as i was sitting in the 1st row directly in front of the president, trump, i still call him president trump. he was speaking, we were standing up. he was speaking of a sudden we heard pop, pop, pop sounds of

a lot like fireworks. then we realized all the secret service, it was at least 4 of them, jumped on the stage, pushed them down, and all that, they were the news people to around them on the front. they pushed them all down to the ground. and then the man with the guns cold come up and they start clearing the area and i hear them clear one clear to clear, right? clear left. lift them up. so they lift president trump up from the ground. president trump says, i want to get my shoes on. i heard that directly from him. they must have fallen off when we pushed him down on his right cheek was a tear drop of blood right here. then when he turned, you could see the right here from the top of the year to the bottom. blood wasn't pouring blood, but it was blood like a piece. then they walked him down the steps and put them in a car and took off. now we could to the right of me,

we could see the sharpshooters on the, on the building behind from the gentleman behind me said the substitute or struck to the left i heard from other people, there was a sharp. there was a suitor on the left and the right side of the drum. i didn't witness that city where there was more than one shooter. that's what i heard was to. the one on the left took out the speaker. there was a where the brain was took out the speaker. so then i just called my husband is watching on tv, of course, because he's wondering if he knows i'm in the 1st row. he said before they put trump down, he saw the blood on his ear. so that almost indicates that he was nicked. so he was hurt before he went down. that's we all thought when he got up that he was hurt somehow from pushing him to the ground and didn't know what was underneath that teleprompter or whatever he was standing in front of. that's what i thought when i saw. but he said no, they specifically, he showed before they got them down, the blood was there. so they must've nicked the e, i would say they probably next

a little bit of the year. but then midway, when trump got up and are walking away, he did the 1st month on the stage all the way down. the steps did appear direct. now to the left, i knew a gentleman who was on the stage earlier. mister elmore from beaver county, i think he was, he ran for the state house. he had a white shirt on when i saw a shirt, it was blood all the way down like that. so he was definitely in that left stand where they say somebody was shot which he shot or was he helping some he looked to me like he was not shocked cuz he was walking out. but neither he was standing next to somebody or he was helping somebody and he got the lien. it didn't look like the fresh blood trumps. definitely look like fresh blood. you could tell the difference of real red compared to like us to mir from was definitely had red blood here. hydride clarify that we when we talked to her,

she didn't say that she felt there might have been 2 gunmen, but all the reports were hearing now is that there was one and that gunman is dead taken out by the secret service. i will tell you what we saw was uh, people just rushing down here, some of them actually running a screaming at there had been a shooting, and people sled pretty quickly. you can see it's a come see now, but there are very few of those thousands of people who are here at the time who are still remaining and so on. yes, i mean what happened directly off the instance? i mean, how did the crowd react to what it would have happened? describe the scene for us if you as well, it was, it was a rush scene and there was some sense of panic among some people. there other people who were just very angry about it and they were running some of the people we spoke to were a little shaken up and uh, birch scared. they wanted to stay, which would talk to us, but they wanted to get back to their cars and get out of here because obviously it

was a pretty unpleasant situation for them. but now people seem, you know, they're watching the reports. they don't feel that there's any stretch. i just heard a gentleman say that it was no big deal. the president was with the former president was fine. and that does appear to be the case now, but right afterwards it was really a scene of a panic. i won't say chaos where they were certainly people urgently running from the can the scene possibly concerned that it wasn't contained and that it wasn't over so and thanks for now. the us senate republican leader mitch mcconnell has been one of the 1st to comment on the incident on social media. he said tonight, when americans are grateful that president trump, that his be fine off to despicable attack on a peaceful, roddy finance has no place in our politics. we appreciate the swift way i called the secret service and other the enforcement us senate majority, the democrats,

chuck schumer has also weighed in on this and that truck, she might have said this was on social media. he said, i'm horrified by what happened at the trump roddy in pennsylvania and relieves that former president. trump is safe, physical fighting has no place in our country. or former us president the rock obama has also issued the statement saying there's no place for this with audits in on democracy. we should all be relieved. trump was not seriously is going to bring in the ronnie latrice that she's a democratic policy strategist and former deputy campaign manager for that he saw this in 2016. she joins a slide that from dallas. thanks for being with us. so what was your reaction when

you heard what it happened? obviously like everybody watching what's happening right this moment, still trying to wrap my brain around and around the moment and, and try to keep a level head and wait for actual backs to come out instead of conjecture. obviously, we've seen them in many circumstances where gesture can lead to more atrocities. and that's, i think, what i'm saying. the hardest for right now is that there's not an escalation in violence. we understand that may have been fatalities haven't just how shocking and event is unbelievably shocking, obviously. and also brings forward to very specific things. one is that gun violence in the united states is a true epidemic that has not been addressed for several decades. now unfortunately, and, and to the words matter, we were living in a,

a very tense time. we're unfortunately just the base line of, of humanity, of seeing each other as human being seems to be boxed and, and we're seeing a play out in public and you've heard you, i heard you read some of the statements coming from both sides of the aisle that there is no room for this kind of political violence in our country and in our system. and i would just take it further and say there is no room for this kind of violence in our country. there shouldn't be. you mentioned there, it's a tense time. what should republicans and democrats be doing now to reduce this tension going forward to think of a white thing. first and foremost, the speculation needs to come to an end and the secret service and other local officials that are currently investigating need to be given the time to do the investigation quickly and expeditiously obviously, but speculations don't help. so i think 1st and foremost, we need it,

but the facts come forward. and 2nd of all, i think the leadership of all parties, which it is, but i think it is what we're seeing for the most part, need to come together and, and jump down the rhetoric. i mean, we've been seeing it for months and months years really now, the other writing it within our political system here in the united states has, is just created. we've seen an escalation of violence across the country. and he crimes and all of these kinds of things. and this is, these are the kinds of things that emanate from it. and we've, it's not just this one moment. is this one rally with the former president? we're seeing it, like i said, in communities all across the country and it's, it's time to stop and a mean. and there's no other way to say it and not how fearful that all you've given to what you say about democracy in the us, or is that over stating this rent? you know, i think there has been

a threat to our democracy for quite some time. now and we're, we're seeing things come out obviously in regard to project 2025 and the atrocious things that are, are trying to be implemented through that we're, we're seeing just the fragility of our democracy. played out in in 2020 as well, or sorry, as early 2021. this is not a new thing. the fragility of our democracy is not new. but the violent rhetoric also has been escalated to a point where we're seeing, just like i mentioned before, an expiration of violence across the country. and this is just the latest example, atrocious example. obviously this isn't wants anyone would have wanted to see in the safety of candidates is the most important thing. does this galvanized or do you think politically donald trump supports going forward i, i think is support was pretty well galvanized, but i do get you know where i'm are. okay,

we're just going to touch into that. now we're going to go over to the present time with this state. apparently he's doing well. i plan on talking now shortly. i hope . when i get back to the telephone book, there's no place in america for this kind of island. it's sick. it's sick. it's one of the reason why we have to unite this country. we cannot allow for this to be happening. we cannot be like this. we cannot condone this. and so, and i want to thank the secret service and all the ages, including the state agencies that have been gauge and making sure that the people who and um we have more detail become relative to the other end or other people may be injured in the audience, i don't have all that detail. we'll make that available to you. i may be able to come back later tonight, but we'll put out a statement if we don't. if i'm not able to give it free, if it's not convenient for you all. but the bottom line is that the trump rally rally that he should have been able to can be conducted peacefully without any

problem. but the idea, the idea that there's political violence or violence in america like this is just on part of just not appropriate. when everybody, everybody must condemn it, everybody, i'll keep you informed and if i am able to speak to, to donald, i'll, i'm going to let you know that as well. so far it appears he's doing well. number one, number 2, that there's thoroughly investigating what happened to anyone else in the audience i have. we have some reports, but not final reports. and every agency, the federal government. and i'm going back to, to my phone, to speak with the federal agencies that are being put together again to give me an updated pre features. and i, they happen. they learn any more in the last couple hours. so thank you very much. and i hope i get to speak to him night and i'll get back to you if i do okay. i don't know enough to i, i'm telling you,

but i don't have any facts. so i want to make sure we have all the facts before i make some comments. any more comments? thank you. there we go. a short statement the from present, joe biden, speaking about that to shooting at to the donald trump route. he said quote, there's no place in america for this kind of volumes. it's sick. it's sick and fish that joins a sly from milwaukee wisconscin. what do you make of, what do i bought and have to say that as well as on scripted, certainly also the costs. we expected that he would try to call donald trump at some point. and he said exactly what, almost everyone else on the political spectrum has said that this level of political violence simply is not acceptable. he said that he understood that donald trump was ok. the federal authorities were being mobilized to investigate and that

he was going back to the phones 1st of all, to try and speak to his opponent in november's election, but also to make sure that the federal agencies are moving in the direction of cutting out an investigation one of the big questions on this will be if this was a feeling of the secret service that are reports that are circulating online, that a number of people at the raleigh had told the secret service. they saw a man with a gun on a building nearby, outside the immediate perimeter of what was going on, but certainly within sight of the president clearly, joe biden is waiting till he gets all the facts confirmed. but if that were to be the case, there would be serious questions about the secret service about why they didn't check the parameter. really, why someone with a gun could even begin to approach that area. and why if people in the crowd what a left thing, the secret service to someone with a gun that they didn't investigate it more fairly no just in the last hour or so. we've had from the district attorney in the area where this was cutty,

that we had that there are 2 people who are dead. one is someone who is in the crowd, the 2nd person is believed to be the sure to themselves. and clearly they will be conducting an investigation. we are told that a number of people were injured. they are being taken to hospital. but of course, donald trump, himself was escorted by secret service agents of the stage as quickly as possible. he was taken to a local medical facility where he was checked out and he is possibly doing fine and he sent out a statement praising the secret service for what the dates. so just to recap what we've had in the last few minutes from joe biden, who is of this country at this home and robust in delaware, he said that he has been informed of what has been happening. he's hoping to speak to the man who just called donald, which is unusual for to bite. and he wants to speak to donald in the coming hours if he is able to and that any political violence, but violence of this kind is sick and unacceptable. and he said that donald trump

should have been able to carry out a political rally without any level of political violence being directed towards the amount of security on this event would have been huge. in any case, some would say can never be a 100 percent safe, but nonetheless, questions will be honest. exactly. i mean we've all been to trump brawley's where you have to queue up hours in advance. you have to go through secret service checks. you have to get everything in your back check the even at times taken things like apples and bananas out of people's bags because they could be used as a weapon. a clearly, there will be questions about why in this open in raleigh. and you can understand why was open in this part of america, the part were donald trump has been today, i is going through a heat wave. so outside with maybe better to get as many people there as possible. why this was allowed to happen. why the secret service seems to have failed and the

most basic level, which is securing the perimeter. and here we are in milwaukee. what donald trump is due to accept the republican party nomination for president on thursday evening. and there was type security in the last couple of hours of seeing more and more body years go up. well, since the shooting security is going to become increasingly tighter and certainly it is going to be incredibly difficult to move around this area. because of course, not only do we have the trump coming to milwaukee, but we have seen your fingers in the republican party. we have members of his family. we have supporters of donald trump. people who've been with them since is fox presidential run 8 years ago. all of them will have to be protected as the gather in milwaukee for this gathering of the republican national convention. an official thank you very much for that. so now let's hear from another eye witness know a correspondence john 100 spoken to

a photographer who was several rows behind the former president. when shots were fired, it was 8 rows back from the podium, slightly to the right. and i was using a nighttime v 72 with a 28 to 400 millimeter lance. i was shooting it all. the president i heard as far as with the entire crowd, heard about 4 or 5 shots as far as was pop, pop, top top, the top of the president went down. my pictures that i have here when you are coming up after the secret service as far as with uh, retreating him and putting him into a secure vehicle and bring him off. the president is hit or nip right here. according to the my photos he was bleeding here and down in this area here as far as on the right side of the space. lots a secret service there. i've had photos as far as with him going into the into the

secure vehicle buddy. he went on his own with the conglomerate of all the secret service up and, and what he got out of it, he's a true donald trump. will he over blog? he pulled up his arm like this. so i don't, he's, he's not incapacitated from one i saw. and then we'll have more of these photos here when we download them later. but then call is the us national security and for and the policy on this to joins us from boston via skype. thanks for being with so many of our international audience will just be joining us. so what was your initial reaction to what happened as well, i suppose the same is 330000000 other americans the shock, but perhaps not surprise it is i have does everyone who does know, who does the political atmosphere in the us and becomes increasingly has increased

and the tension the 4 years in particular was the campaign. the election only a $110.00 days or something to that effect from now? the so i wasn't surprised and i've worked with the secret service in there. they're very, very professional and very, very good. but yeah, and then an investigation of course, is appropriate for what happened. it's hard to imagine how a weapon could managed to get past the various layers of security that they have for ever a candidate for the presidency goes. but in the profession, i think is something that is almost not humanly possible. so it's not really surprising what happened, what kind of a securities, a preparations i should say would have taken place for this kind of runny as well in,

in my experience where ever the president's or former president goes and i have seen the secret service check, literally every window and every room along the pass that the president to where the candidate would be following prior to the person, the passion. there are security checks, metal detectors for anyone who comes within the area where you can see or or reach the person in question. what i was at a couple of meetings with the vice president and i was in or official as were my colleagues. and we were held in the waiting room for secure, for an hour or so prior to our being able to interact with the individual. so there are a series of measures that make layers,

you always think of an onion of when you are doing security so that there is layer after layer of to where to that. um, a hostile person would have to get it's true and i'm certain that that sort of towards the circumstance in pennsylvania then called stay with us. if you will begin to bring in another guest, now you both the be able to speak to each other and i will speak to you as well. we're going to bring in the barbara perry, a professor in presidential studies at the university of virginia. she joins us from charlottesville in virginia. thank you for joining us. so we've heard reports that, that have been the fatalities in this instance. so a truly shocking event. well that's the word is an edge of the last 2 hours is shocking, though, as my colleagues says, perhaps not surprising. i in light of the intemperate political rhetoric and

actions of the last decade, i would say the history sadly of the use of guns in this country and political violence. and i have to say that as soon as i heard from the feed from algae 0, thank you. now i was going to be chatting with you all about the president's rally, the former president's rally as he runs for another thomas president. and suddenly the fees went off and i, i, i just had this sense. so my whole life of the violence that i have witnessed from my childhood starting was the assassination of president kennedy. and then his brother, robert, 5 years later when i was a bit older and then when i was in graduate school are just about ready to go to grad school, the assassination attempt on present reagan in my, in my university days there were attempts on twice within a few weeks time on president for assassination attempts. so i'm just, i'm sad for my country to think that this continues and that you can never be 100

percent secure when ever a president leaves a bubble. that whether that is a former president's home, a current president's home, in the case of biden and, and robust, and certainly in the white house. they are in a, a pretty impenetrable we hope bible. but as soon as they step out, there's always some risk and someone took advantage of that and then to, to take out people in the audience. and i, i've mentioned before that i went to my 1st little go rally when i was 4, and that my mother took me to see john f. kennedy running for president, and there were now i can assure you, there were no metal detectors and the people flooded around kennedy's car as he came up to the podium and we stood right in the podium and the difference that i now know with someone who continues to go to the white house to go to part right. presidential rally is just horrible the same, but i would be at risk in addition to our candidates and the, and the president of the united states. ben call,

we've just heard the public parasite side for your country about how do you see it as well? is there professor and i? are there contemporaries, it seems so probably within 2 or 3 years at the same age, i have the same specific recollections of those events as well as the assassination attempts against president ford and george wallace martin luther king. i don't know, but i think the specific facts, of course, i don't know of this events, but i can provide, i think, very relevant context. when i was the deputy in for a while, acting the national intelligence officer for trans national french that, that specifically focused on terrorist threats to united states. but every year, the intelligence community has to assess the right report on the threats to the, the, the government trips to the citizens. and this now goes back 25 years,

really when i was doing this. and then every year, the top threats was the same. and it was from domestic meaning american right wing, malicious and active. this we were not allowed to say that actually because that was construed by republican leaders as a politically partisan statement. the result was the state, in fact, the people who caused the most damage to material and to live at that time. or in fact one would characterize and broadly as the left this, these were echo terrorist strew it actually blowing up some electrical facilities. and i think the and anti vivisection we grant the animal testing the folks who uh, burned down, or facilitate research facility or to and i think killed inadvertently

a couple of people. but the stretch was clearly the largest for white wing, malicious. now, what happened in this context over the last 25 years and actually didn't hear all i, i think that expand with the professor said the last decade. certainly the rhetoric, there's an increase, but this is a phenomenon and it goes back a minimum of 40 years, a minimum, where the rhetoric primarily from the right, whether it's talk, show the average on the radio and united states or television networks or activists, has increased the level of i to peroration customization and the heat at the same time there is another phenomenon that the professor also touches upon which is for .